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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Ten Observations with Sharing Your Faith

Sharing our faith can be intimidating, however it is
something that Jesus clearly commanded us to do. Studies show that about ninety
percent of professed believers admit that they have never shared their faith
with anybody. I recently wrote a blog explaining how I believe that the main
reason that people don't share their faith is because of fear of rejection. I also believe that many
Christians simply feel they just don’t know how to.

Here are ten observations I have learned over the years
concerning sharing our faith with others. I don’t pretend to have it all
figured out nor do I claim to be an “expert” in this field. I have simply
picked on a few tips through trial and error. I have also had the luxury of
reading a few books as well as having some really great mentors! So as we go and be obedient to what Christ has commanded
here are some things we should keep in mind.

1. Sharing through conversation is best!

I believe that God can use any method, however based on my
experience and also feedback from those whom I have talked to, this is the best
approach. I am not a big fan of other methods such as handing out tracts or
open air preaching, although I am not completely against those things. I worked
as a server for over two years and we received tracts all of the time and
honestly most people never even read them. Most of the time if I ever give
someone a tract it is after I have already had a conversation with them. Like I said God can use anything but I think that engaging someone
in a conversation is the more fruitful approach. Also this is the method we see
predominantly in the New Testament. Jesus actually sat down and had a conversation
with the Samaritan woman, and had meals with outcasts of society. We have
allowed the media to portray us as though we are all like the Westboro Baptist
crazies! So let’s counter that by actually showing love like Christ did! Let’s
put down our picket signs, get off of our stumps, and actually lovingly talk to
those whom Jesus has called us to engage.

2. There is power in sharing your story!

Nobody can tell your story better than you can! You may be
wondering where to start with sharing your faith. A great place to start is
sharing what Christ has done in your own life. People can relate to that very
well! We see in Scripture where Paul shared his story several times! You may
think that if you came to Christ at an early age and never did drugs or jail time
that you really don’t have much of a story to share. However, if you came to
Christ then that means you were once spiritually dead and now Jesus has raised
you to life! That my friends is powerful and must be shared! If we truly have
been transformed by the gospel we should be more than excited to share our
testimony!

3. Awkwardness cannot be avoided!

You may say that sharing our faith just gets too awkward and
you are correct! Anytime we talk about Jesus things are going to get awkward
and that just cannot be avoided. There is something about the name Jesus that
really causes a reaction out of people whether good or bad. That is why I can
hardly contain myself from laughing when some people attempt to insinuate that
Jesus was just a normal man who lived one day but was nothing more. Sharing our
faith WILL be awkward I promise but we need to accept that and deal with it! We
are talking about where someone will spend eternity! I don’t want to stand
before God while giving an account and my excuse for not sharing be that it was
just too awkward! Jesus is worth more than that!

4. We don’t always have to have all the answers!

I believe that one of the fears of many is that they will be
asked a question that they will not be able to answer. They feel because they
don’t have a theological degree or haven’t read the Bible from cover to cover
that they aren’t equipped! The truth is that often we will encounter being
asked a question that we will not know the answer to. When I experience this I
just tell them that I don’t know but I will look into it and get back with
them. I also honestly tell them that I don’t have all the answers because I
don’t! Most people actually appreciate our honesty and authenticity in this, to
say that we are not God and we don’t know everything. We should try to grow and
learn as much as we can but also realize that only God truly knows all and we
should be up front about this as we witness!

5. We don’t have to control the conversation!

I have learned over the years that sometimes the less I talk
while sharing my faith the better! Sometimes our best approach is to just shut
up!!! When we talk with people about their beliefs and where they are
spiritually we should allow them to talk! Sometimes we treat witnessing like
it’s a rehearsed spill and we never allow the other person to talk! Let them
talk and that shows them that you actually care about them and it gives you a
better idea where they are and you will know how best to direct the
conversation! Also if you are willing to hear them out they will be more
willing to hear you out!

6. LISTEN!

Often while sharing our faith we are so focused on what we
are going to say we don’t listen to what they are saying. While they are
talking we need to listen to them instead of just thinking about what we are
going to say next. I know I tend to do that in any conversation and have to
constantly remind myself to actually listen. Trust me, they will know if we are
listening. This goes back to the part about showing them that we care
about them by being willing to hear them out. Listen to them no matter how bizarre
their beliefs may or may not be. I talked with a guy one time who told me that
he believed after we die, we just kind of float away into outer space. He went
on for about three minutes explaining this in detail. As crazy as it sounded,
he truly believed every word he was saying. Since I respectfully listened, he
was willing to listen to me respond by sharing with him the gospel of Jesus
Christ!

7. Every encounter will be different!

Every person you will ever talk to will be different and be
in different circumstances. Because of this there is really no set way to share
our faith. Many just want a specific mapped out plan for how to witness to
people and there are many books that offer that. The problem is that people and
their circumstances are different so what may work for one person but will not
be applicable with another. Also if we approach someone with a pre-planned
strategy for what we are going to say it will come across as a rehearsed speech
and people will pick up on that, and we will lose authenticity. As I said
yesterday, there is something people appreciate about just being real and even
vulnerable. Every person we witness to will be different and we should just let
the spirit lead us as we talk with them.

8. We should speak truth but have a humble and compassionate
approach!

Christians have not done a very good job with this on both
sides of the coin. As believers we are still human so we tend to gravitate toward
extremes and this is no exception! Many seem to think that to love we must dumb
down truth, and others think that in order to speak truth we must be a jerk
about it! I am sick and tired of this false dichotomy of truth and love being
at war with each other because they are not. We must find a proper biblical
balance of both! It is not unloving to tell a person that they are a sinner
before a holy God, as long as we let them know that Jesus paid for that sin on
the cross because of his love for sinners! The whole point of telling someone
about sin is not to point fingers, but to lead into the love of God that was
shown on Calvary. Also as we talk to people we need to remember that it is only
by the grace of God that we are not in their position. Often we forget this and
it leads to a lack of compassion for those far from God. We need to pray that
God would remove from us any self-righteous tendencies and replace them with
love and compassion for these people that Jesus died for. Our hearts should
break for the lost and hurting and should lead us toward compassion for them!

9.We should be prayed up beforehand!

Any method we may have or utilize is pointless if the spirit
of God is not at work. We need to pray that God would prepare the hearts of
those we encounter and speak through us. I heard a famous evangelist say once
that he prays every time he gets on a plane for the person he will be sitting
next to. So we should focus less on strategies and more on being on our face
before God and ask Him to work through us.

10. Stick with the gospel!

This is straight forward! We should focus on Jesus and His
dead, burial, and resurrection! Let’s stay away from politics and behavior
modification! Jesus said to go and make disciples, not republicans or
democrats! I am not saying that politics are not important, but many see it as
synonymous with the gospel and it is not. Also we are not called to dress
people up like we think they should look as Christians. We are to point them to
the cross and allow Jesus to transform their hearts. We can easily get
sidetracked but we should just stick with the simple gospel of Jesus Christ.